Srinagar: Security forces launched a massive search operation on Saturday to trace a group of terrorists who killed three Army personnel during an encounter a day earlier in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said.
Friday’s encounter between security personnel and the terrorists occurred in the higher reaches of the Halan forest area of Kulgam in south Kashmir.
The gunfight ensued after the terrorists fired upon a security forces party, which had erected a tent in the area as part of an area domination exercise, the officials said.
In the exchange of fire, three Army personnel were injured. They died later during treatment.
The terrorists subsequently decamped with some weapons, the officials said.
“Operation Halan #Kulgam. On specific inputs regarding the presence of terrorists on higher reaches of Halan in Kulgam, operations launched by Security Forces on 04 Aug 23. In exchange of firing with terrorists, three personnel sustained injuries and later succumbed. Search operations are continuing,” Srinagar-based Chinar Corps of the Army said in a tweet.
The officials said a tight cordon was maintained throughout the night and the search operation was launched on Saturday morning to trace the terrorists, believed to be three in number.
They said the group is believed to have reached Kulgam district through the Pir Panjal range.
They said additional troops have been rushed to the area and the search has been intensified.
Another search operation has been launched in the Kund area of the district after a blast-like sound was heard there, the officials said.
Some Army vehicles were passing through the area when the sound was heard, they said.
A police team rushed to the spot and further details were awaited, the officials added.
Pertinently, Sepoy Waseem Ahmad Dar, a footballer from north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, was among the three army soldiers killed in Halan.
The news of his death left the community in Bandipora devastated. As people flocked to his residence, women mourned the loss of the young soldier, who left behind his expecting wife. The couple had been married in November 2021.
